Retro Re-release Roundup, week of August 13, 2020
Arcade Archives has entered the second round.
Here's an extra incentive to try Hamster's reissue of the arcade Super Punch-Out!!, should you require it: it's the only game in which the lovable Soda Popinski retains his original, ever-so-slightly-less-sensitive name, Vodka Drunkinski, and the only Punch-Out!! title to feature the Italian boxer Pizza Pasta.... and to think, people thought Capcom paved the way for questionable national stereotypes with Street Fighter II.
ARCADE ARCHIVES NINTENDO
Super Punch-Out!! (August 14)
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
- Publisher: Hamster / Nintendo
What's this? The sequel to Nintendo's hit dual-monitor arcade boxing game, released in 1984 and never reissued until now (no, the SNES version's not a port); this version features five new opponents and the ability to duck by pulling in the arcade stick. (Precisely how that action has been remapped by Hamster, I don't know.)
Why should I care? It's more of a version-up than a fully-fledged sequel, so if you didn't gel with the original arcade game then this one won't change your mind, but the slightly less rigid and more reactionary feel of the arcade Punch-Out!! titles
Useless fact: The Elite Systems-made Commodore 64 game Frank Bruno's Boxing is a thoroughly shameless Super Punch-Out!! facsimile.
iOS & ANDROID (OKAY, JUST ANDROID)
- Platform: Android (worldwide)
- Price: free with in-app purchases
- Publisher: Gameloft
Forgive me for not having my finger on the pulse of Gameloft's current doings but I've only just discovered this months-old package, and I suspect a lot of you may have also missed the news: in commemoration of their 20th anniversary, Gameloft has released a free app for Android devices that compiles 30 of their more prominent games from the pre-smartphone era — it's a fairly basic package with next to no quality-of-life features, but them's the brakes.. (The list of included games, for the curious: Bubble Bash 2, Brain Challenge 3, Diamond Rush, Detective Ridley and the Mysterious Enigma, Abracadaball, Gangstar 2, Zombie Infection, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, NOVA, Wild West Guns, Zombiewood, Alien Quarantine, My Life in New York, Vampire Romance, Miami Nights 2, Fashion Icon, Date or Ditch 2, High School Hooks Ups, Soul of Darkness, Hero of Sparta, Cannon Rats, Block Breaker Deluxe 2, Block Breaker Deluxe 3, Motocross Trial Extreme, Platinum Solitaire 3, Texas Hold’em Poker, Midnight Bowling 3, Midnight Bowling 4, Avalanche Snowboarding, and KO Fighters 2D.)
SOUNDTRACKS & VINYL
Data Discs Sega vinyl restock
Coinciding with Data Discs' new trans-Atlantic shipping prices comes a restock of several Sega soundtrack vinyls, including Golden Axe I&II, Shenmue, Shinobi III, Sonic Mania, Streets of Rage II and Streets of Rage III, which I'm pleasantly surprised has sold well enough to necessitate a restock.
DISCOUNTS & DEALS
Bethesda.net Quakecon giveaways
I'm sure most of you own them already and none of you are particularly interested in claiming them via Bethesda's launcher but on the off chance you do, Bethesda's giving away various Quake games in conjunction with this year's online-only Quakecon event: Quake II is free for another day or so, and good ol' Quake III will be free over the weekend.
The Exclusive Retro Game Storybundle - Curated by David L. Craddock
- Format: eBook (.mobi & .epub) via StoryBundle
- Price: pay-what-you-want, complete tier at $15
It's that time again: another game-related book bundle, this one focusing specifically on classic gaming-related books, several of which are exclusive to StoryBundle, with a portion of the proceeds pledged to the World Health Organization's fight against COVID19.
